The Story of Our Family Business

Forest Lake Lodge is a family owned nursing home with modest beginnings. Dr Sid Lau, proprietor and owner has been a General Practitioner for over 40 years. He and his family have a vision to provide a safe, comfortable and environmentally friendly home for people who are unable to care for themselves. Central to the family’s philosophy is to provide the highest quality care, whilst maintaining dignity and individuality of every Resident.

We believe that a major contribution to the health and happiness of any person is their environment. As such, the home has been designed to provide a safe, functional and practical living space with a comfortable, spacious and luxurious feel for Residents and their families. Many of our rooms and community areas offer plenty of natural light and pleasant outlooks. Every Resident in the home has access to safe and well-maintained outdoor space and greenery. The home has been designed to optimise communication between staff and Residents.

Overall our mother is happier, she initiates conversation, her memory has improved. She laughs a lot & still beats some of us at maths. Her “spark” seems to have returned. That makes the whole family happy.

— Leah Cooper

The first stage of Forest Lake Lodge was opened in the year 2000 and it was an exciting day when Residents from Sylvan Lodge Toowong were transferred to their new home. Stage 1 was based on a village concept with the central lounge acting like a village centre. Nursing station, hair-dressing salon, and kitchen servery all encircle the outer edge of the central lounge akin to a market place with shop fronts. This concept is unique to Forest Lake Lodge. There are Residential courts which branch from the central lounge. Each residential court has an internal garden courtyard, which allows filtered sunlight and fresh air into Resident rooms and common areas. This design allows Residents to maximise participation in the community even with reduced mobility.

In 2009, Stage 2 of Forest Lake Lodge opened its doors. This new building created additional capacity with Superior Rooms and a secure dementia wing, the Memory Retreat. The focus of the Superior Rooms is to encourage independence and each are extra spacious, are privately ensuited with its own laundry. The new building has been specifically designed to provide additional community living space including a library, a movie rooms/spaces, visitor kitchenette, a multi-denominational chapel and extended outdoor spaces.

In 2016, an environmentally friendly extension to the Memory Retreat and redesign of the existing structure was completed. This stage substantially increased and refurbished the secure outdoor space. The new design offers an extended walking track that encourages residents to experience varied environments including an internal rainforest with natural ventilation and light, greenery and the ambient sounds of the forest.

The extension invites the outdoors inside. Residents throughout can enjoy the sense of being outdoors in a protected environment. Superior rooms enjoy improved accessibility and completely redesigned the interior courtyard with a café style setting.

Residents and families report being are happier with increased access to natural light and ventilation, quality finishes and abundant outdoor space. High quality building materials, pressure and motion sensors, a pressure tested building envelope, a heat exchanger and individual a/c room control ensures that our residents can actively exercise daily choice and decision making over their comfort and environment.

Every room, passage way, outdoor space, communal area has been specifically designed to support mobility and independence. This means extra wide doorways/corridors, wayfinding signage, balustrades, homely yet aged care appropriate furniture and fittings. Families can rest easy knowing they are doing the best thing for their loved one and the environment.

We are proud of the environment that our home provides for our Residents and the level of care delivered by our staff. If you are looking for long term accommodation or respite accommodation for you or your loved one I invite you to contact us to arrange a time to visit us.